Christmas road warning: stay safe, stay sober

Victoria Police has vowed to "saturate" the state's roads with four separate road safety operations over the Christmas holiday period.

Over the next 52 days, police will focus on speeding, drink and drug driving, fatigue and driver distraction.

The campaign follows a bad month on Victoria's roads, in which 34 people died.

Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing, Robert Hill, says the campaign will send a clear message to drivers.

"Stay safe, stay sober, stay within the limits," he said.

"Travel using our roads being mindful of the complexity of driving a motor car, the complexity of using our road system, being alert.

"If you are not prepared to stay safe, stay off the road," he said.

He says Victoria Police has a critical role to play in road safety, but it is a "whole of community" responsibility.

"This is all about protecting lives. Last year we had 287 people killed on our roads. To date, we've had 247 people killed (this year). We have had 4,500 people seriously injured on our roads. This needs to stop."

Assistant Commissioner Hill was joined by Victoria's Police Minister, Peter Ryan, to each hang an ornament on a Christmas tree at police headquarters.

Each of the 247 ornaments represents a death on Victoria's roads this year.

Mr Ryan says it remains to be seen whether more ornaments are added to the tree.

"The question becomes are we going to add any more ornaments to this tree before the end of this year, or, wouldn't it be wonderful if we were able to leave it with the numbers that are there now, extraordinary though they be," Mr Ryan said.

"The choice, substantially, is in the hands of those of us who drive motor cars. Make proper choices and we can all cooperate to make certain, as best as possible, that we can keep the road deaths down," he said.

The first of the festive season operations, Operation RAID, has started with police aiming to catch and remove alcohol and drug-affected drivers from the roads.